Seizing the day
by kimmiesjoy
Summary: When the worst thing she had ever done comes to light, Kate discovers that her words and his love are the only things that will put them back together.  47secs and beyond  co-authored with AlwaysCastle and Jerryst316.


**A/N:** So this was a collaboration between AlwaysCastle, Jerryst316 and kimmiesjoy. It was born of a prompt, a promo and several manic, insane, obsessive sounding conversations.

Disclaimer: We don't own the show or anything associated with it, but two women and a man can dream!

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><p><strong>Seizing the Day<strong>

_All the signs seem to say love is lost_

_But I don't wanna give up what we've got._

**Emeli Sande - Maybe**

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><p>Her heart, what was left of it, what hadn't shattered to pieces when he turned from her, was hammering in her chest, loud, painful beats at the walls, thundering against her ribs and tearing everything to shreds with its incessant ache.<p>

The day lies heavy on her shoulders. Another weight to bear, another crack in the armour to ready herself against, but she could fix this one.

She could make it right.

He was in pain, from the look on his face. He was crushed, in agony, and that was her fault.

As she thought about the way he had crumbled in front of her, his body slumping, collapsing in on itself, the light in his eyes fading away, before he rose up, hard and fierce... He was not the man she knew.

It pierced her soul, actually burned through her entire body like acid.

She had lied, she had hurt him and driven him away, but today people had died, so very many people and that was why she was here.

How many near misses had they had lately? How many what-ifs and almosts and brushing fingers?

Too many.

Too many to count.

Too many to let another one pass them by.

It was all those who had died, their life in progress snuffed out and cut short so randomly that had finally stirred her into action, that and the thought that she didn't want their last moment to be the pain in his eyes as he walked away from her.

She hadn't even changed her clothes, dirt-smudged and bedraggled. She had barely registered the journey over, every inch of the physical distance between narrowed by the turning wheels whilst the distance between them emotionally seemed to grow.

But she could fix it.

She had to seize the day and make it right, make it more.

Kate stands outside Castle's loft, her heart still beating a staccato in her chest. Searching for the more even and less desperate beat, and when she finds it, this time the rhythm of her heart does not stutter out of fear.  
>It's out of sheer anticipation, longing, the moment she knocks on this door, faces the broken man she shattered not a few hours ago. Everything could fall into place.<p>

Will.

Everything will.

Because there are so many things in her life that she's been putting off and this? This is something she doesn't want to put off anymore.

Her fist comes down on the door, hard and fast like her heart beating wildly within her chest and she uses it to find an all new sense of self.

The door opens midway through her third knock, revealing Richard Castle in all his...brooding glory. But her resolve does not slip at the sight of his haggard appearance, mussed hair and rumpled clothing.

In fact, it spurs her on.

"Kate." He says, partially surprised, and yet she can see him struggling to hold on to his anger with her.

When he walked to the door he was on auto-pilot after being blindsided by the ugly truth. Honestly, it didn't matter who was on the other side because she, the one person outside his family he trusted above all others, she had lied to him about everything.

He didn't see a path laid before him, he didn't know of a turn he could make. Castle only knew that he had been crushed under the weight of her betrayal.

His own lies laying heavy with the remnants of hers.

How could two people who loved each other so much, hurt each other this badly?

Maybe he was naive, maybe he was far too romantic to think that a woman like Kate Beckett could love him, and yet, he had been hopeful that maybe he could be the man she needed him to be.

Maybe, just maybe, he could be her saviour.

Maybe he could be her hero.

What he didn't expect, what he could never have foreseen was that she would be his.

When he opens the door he is so shocked he rocks back on his heels, because here she is in all her dirty and grimy glory.

Beautiful.

Stunning.

A liar.

Just like him.

She says nothing. Instead, she advances on him, so close and yet not touching. He pulls in a sharp gasp at her quick movements. So unlike her, she knows, to be the one with the forward momentum but she's in the moment and dammit she's going to take hold of it and give it everything she's got.

"What are you doing here?" He tries to turn from her, crossing his arms, angled toward the kitchen.

As if he can escape there.

She reaches for his bicep, stopping him in his tracks as his frown deepens and he refuses to look at her. But she's okay with it, she deserves it, she shouldn't have kept the truth from him for as long as she did.

He certainly shouldn't have heard it how he did, but it's not the point. That is not why she is here.

She watches as he takes a step back, away from her reaching fingers and it confirms everything in her mind. She's going to have to show him.

Just like he has shown her everything. How to live again, how to laugh, how to open her heart, let someone in and give herself over to love.

So she will show him.

Even if it's by unfair persuasion.

"Castle?" She reaches again, needing that contact even if it's unwanted, and holds firm to his arm.

"Kate? I...what..." He pushes a hand across his forehead, rubbing at the creases, tired and, Kate can see from the broken reflections in his eyes, he's barely hanging on.

"Can... I come in?" She asks, hand still on him. She wants to revel in this, however miniscule. Maybe she can get to him if she can keep that touch.

"I...I'm not sure that's a good idea." He replies, moving enough away to where her hand slips and loses contact with him completely

"Castle..." She feels herself falter just a bit, a pain bursting through her chest because when she came here she knew she would have to persuade him, she knew it would be her turn to fight, to prove, to make declarations,. That was a given.

Kate had never considered she wouldn't get through the door to it.

Her mouth opens, lips parting to plead, but he stops her words, steals every one with a slow deliberate shake of his head.

"No Kate." He walks further into the loft. "It's not that I don't understand, it's that...I have to..." He turns his head only, his arms still crossed.

"I know, Rick. I do."

"We both lied."

She looks down. "And when we started doing that."

"It messed up..."

"Our rhythm." When she finishes their sentence on a deep exhale, his shoulders slump and a sad smile crosses his lips because it is the truth, as painful as every truth seems to be lately. It is what they did right?

Finished each others words, they were on the same wave length, same book, same page. Often the same line, reading each other word for word as they went.

At least that was how he felt before, but now…

"Though not as much as we think." Kate lifts her head catching his eye, trying to relay something, everything, all the things she feels and needs him to know, how sorry she is, how stupid she was, how weak it made her feel knowing she had almost brought him to his knees in pain.

"I want so badly to joke about this." Castle steps even farther back, he doesn't invite her in, but he doesn't stop Kate when she takes a few small steps, following him into his home.

An alien invader in his sanctuary, more aware than ever that some gaps are too big to build a bridge over.

But barely a few short months ago the wall had been too big an obstacle to overcome, the broken shattered wall that he had chipped at, that she had attacked with every fibre of her being, her soul, until the piles of bricks were all that remained.

So maybe she can use those bricks, and turn that wall, that stupid clichéd metaphoric wall, into something positive. Maybe she can use those bricks, and build a path back to Castle.

"But you can't..." She asks as she follows him, his steps edging him closer to his kitchen, but as she speaks he stops and turns, his arms wrapping more tightly around his biceps, holding himself in. Kate knows that tentative grasp of self that he clings to, she has been doing it for months, years even.

Only he was the one who showed her how to let go, drop her hands from herself and maybe take someone else's instead.

"Because this is not something I ever..." His grip holds strong on his arms, his knuckles white, and he doesn't see Kate move closer.

"Prepared for..." Her shoulders tense.

"Or even thought would happen..."

"And it is tearing you up inside." She lets out a strangled sigh.

"Ripping me apart." He whispers quietly, his head dropping until his chin almost rests on his chest. Kate watches his eyes close silently, aching to soothe that look from his face, and if he lets her she will but first…

"Because of me..." Painful truth again, she has to embrace it, it's too late for her to turn and run, not that she could, not that she wants to.

"And I'm not sure if you can fix it." His arms finally drop. Not from giving in, but from an acceptance. Something he never wished for. Not like this.

"Why?"

"Because there is more..." He faces her now.

"What more is there?" She asks her own voice quiet now and she watches him lift slowly to look at her "You looked into my mother's case..." Her eyes widen, lock in his to see the truth of his own secret linger within them.

He says nothing. Closes his eyes against what might happen now that she knows. And there couldn't possibly be anything else he could say. He could justify himself maybe, but he knows why he did it, and explaining himself isn't going make it better, the truth of what he did, she knows. She has known all along. He did what he could to keep her safe and alive, and she heard the reason why.

Dying or not, she heard the reason.

Kate is silent. She can't be mad about this. For the reasons behind what he did, echoes in her mind every day. "I'm still here." She whispers, moving closer to him. "You know I heard you and I lied and I'm still here, I will always…" She reaches out.

"Don't Kate," he interrupts, pulling away once more. "Don't make promises you can't keep, look what we have done to each other." His arms come out.

And that's enough, she has heard enough and Kate surrenders to every longing and desire that has been locked inside her chest too long, trapped in her heart, and giving into them all. She surges forward and takes his cheek in her hand.

"Kate." He says through a swallow and the closing of his eyes. He squeezes them tight, pulling his face a little away from her, making her press further into him. She chases him, and from now on she will always chase him, always follow and find him, she doesn't want him gone or away, no more apart.

We. Us. Together.

"No! Listen to me now. Listen to me." She pulls his cheek towards her, fighting against him as he continues to turn away. "We don't talk about things, we don't tell each other what we mean to each other," Her voice dips, admittance seeping out of her, trying to let him see she knows. "But since the moment I was shot and you told me you loved me... I've done everything I could to be a better person. To fix the things that were wrong with me, so that maybe one day, I could be worthy of you."

He swallows, shaking his head. He doesn't think there is anything wrong with her. She only watches the tightness of his jaw, his body, as it all starts to drain away. She steps closer, her heart hammering in her ear.

She lets him take in a breath, doing so herself, a small, even one to calm the fluttering in her chest. She feels the tense muscles relax and she lets her eyes roam upwards at the same time she steps further into his body heat.

"Rick, I..."

This time, Rick takes her face in his hands and looks directly into those wet green eyes he loves, "We wasted so much time. You...you were always worthy, Kate. I was worried that I could never be worthy of you."

She shakes her head but his hands hold her still and words seem useless now as they both stare deeply into each other. What they find behind the blue and green, lifts them both from the depths of their despair.

Hope and love have a tendency to do that...

"We need to take a chance….on each other." He leans down, her lashes close enough to skim his cheeks as her eyes beat slowly. His heart thunders, calling to hers with each shuddering crash, and she must be able to hear it as her hands close tightly over his, sliding to where he holds her face.

She moves in a bit more, stifling a small gasp as her lips grow closer to his. His voice is rough, and low, as he murmurs, the vibrations thrumming through her hands and into the rest of her body.

"Seize the day." She agrees, the soft edge of her lips lifting, not quite a smile, but no more sorrow. "I know." She says, caressing the side of his jaw. He sighs, leaning into her touch. "Do you want to know something?" She asks, her voice shaking, raising her eyebrow as she opens her mouth.

Castle lifts his eyes slowly, the caress of her hand warm against his skin, but the apprehension he feels is like ice through his chest. It leaves him afraid of what might come next, that it might shatter his every hope.

"I love you too." The words, released at last, leave her drawing in a shuddering breath fearing even this declaration has come too late, she won't let herself question it anymore because she can't risk him not knowing. Can't risk the repercussions of holding it any longer.

Castle audibly gulps, forcing his eyes shut as if he doesn't believe her.

Those are the only words in her vocabulary from this moment on, and she holds firm. "Shh." She soothes, slowly urging his face towards her as he makes a face. Not buying into her words as if they are just more lies.

When his face is level with hers again, Kate removes her hands from his, returning one to his face. He slides a hand down, so they are each cupping one another's cheek. She rubs her thumb under his eye, the way she longed to when she first walked through the door and then, when she knows he's going to listen, she lets her other hand fall on the opposite side.

She hums to life. "I don't want to put it off anymore." She says, deep and tender, her eyes darting to his lips before she lets her own descend on them, placing a kiss on those soft and pliable lips that had eluded her for what seemed an eternity.

He makes a sound in protest of her demands and her heart pangs painfully at the weight of it. She pulls back just enough to where their lips are still touching.

"Castle." She whispers. A plea, and as his eyes finally connect with hers, the tension melts from his body, fully, finally and she falls into him as he wraps his arms around her.

What happens next is a crescendo of everything they have ever put off until she knocked on his door. And with it, comes the sliding of hands and melding of two bodies tired of the wait.

His arms wind around her, both of them sinking into the kiss, a passion too long denied born from the ashes of pain and desire, and as their arms wrap around the other, this giant step they take seems to erase the agony of distance and lies.

He falters again, weak in his love for her, made stronger by it all the same as his mouth closes over hers.

The kiss changes pace fast, comfort to passion and when it finally reaches frantic, Castle backs Kate into the door, his hands sliding lower cupping her jaw turning her face as she moans so he can attack her neck with his tongue.

As he does she throws her head back and winds her fingers through his hair to find purchase as he continues to feast on her. She wants to hold him close, never let go and she can, so she does.

Without thinking, Castle grabs Kate's legs and lifts her further into the door, rejoicing with another kiss another brush of teeth and tongue across her neck when he feels her wrap herself firmly around his body, urging and pleading with him to take this further.

As his mouth crashes over hers again, hungry and so full of need she almost falls weak by the myriad of emotions he puts into the kiss. His tongue darts out, pushing its way between her lips and she opens on a moan, pressing herself into him so forcefully he stumbles backwards, taking her with him now as he moves through his loft.

The air from his lungs gasps out and into her body, breathing a life back into her that she never truly realized she was missing.

But with his arms around her, his hands moving frantically up and down her back, playing with the hem of her shirt, she comes to realises that this is where she is meant to be.

That he was right all along.

She did hide in relationships with men she didn't love.

But she also hid from the one man she loved more than anything.

No more hiding.

For a moment, Rick pulls back but only so that he can look at her, revel in her, before he presses forward to capture her lips in another passionate kiss. Her tongue and his now dance, as they have before, and his hands wander over her wonderful body, touching every place he has denied himself before.

The dam has finally burst and nothing can hold them back any longer. The power and the speed of approaching tide overtakes them, and washes them away in a sea of love and passion and desire.

When he feels her hands come to his chest, it makes him wonder briefly if she will push him away, a fleeting thought because he feels sure of her, somehow, and in confirmation of his faith he feels her hands grip his shirt and rip it apart, the buttons flying dangerously through the loft.

Her hands mould themselves to his chest, her fingers splaying wide and her mouth, soft and easy closes over his again.

Castle stumbles into his office feeling as she shivers and holds tightly to him, bumping the desk, in a hurried rush, new boundaries untested. Kate laughs, throwing her head back at the clumsiness of the rising event.

He chuckles too, finally both of them more themselves, another truth. His breath against her skin is tingling as he laughs and pushes his hips into hers.

He plants her on his desk and finally returns the favour with her blouse, no flying cascading buttons, but rips and snags at the material and soon enough, her shirt joins his on the floor.

He moves from her lips then, just as she starts to pant from the overwhelming need she feels deep inside her, leaving her whimpering at the loss as he continues down her neck.

The sound it elicits, so unlike Kate Beckett her eyes fly open and roll back to the ceiling in surprise.

For a second it startles him too and he pulls back, looking upon his detective. Her red bra covering her chest and her scars, scars that tell her story, a story of a life lived too harshly.

Without hesitation, Rick leans down and allows his mouth to cover her scar, and as she gasps, he smiles at her, properly, for the first time. He hopes that the look in his eyes will tell her all she needs; she isn't perfect and that's one of the many reasons he loves her.

His mouth begins to skim over the delectable skin in the valley between them, trailing a wet and hungry path between her breasts, tasting the delectable ambrosia of her body, the sweet tang of skin, washing away the trepidation and fear with each caress of his mouth, and as he does, he finds he only wants more.

His hand slides up her back, fingers at the clasp of her bra, their eyes meeting as she shudders, her legs like a vice around his waist, and with whatever nonverbal, two souls as one form of communication they have he questions, she answers and her bra is cast aside to lay on the ground with their other clothes.

His eyes don't deviate from hers as she suspected they would instead they burn into her own with a force that speaks of how much he has yearned for this moment.

"Castle." She whispers, raking her fingers through his hair, grinding her hips, needing him nearer, needing him to see and understand that it's what she has been yearning for too, what she has been building towards, what she was making herself over for.

The force of his tongue at the juncture of her neck tells her he understands and as he keeps at the constant sucking and licking of her skin, her moans and his mingle into one long drawn out confession of love.

He moves back up slowly after the moans fade away, replaced by something more raw, more heated, nipping at her jaw, until she's on fire.  
>Scorching at just the splay of his hands on her stomach, sliding agonizingly slow to her back. She arches and hums, long and low, head falling back down to search his eyes, which are dark blue pools of lust..<p>

But above all else, love.

So much love.

Her thighs grip the desk, her hand around his neck, pulling his mouth back down to hers as she draws one of his hands to her waist, moving up in silent command until his fingers settle over her breast.

He's panting, his hot breath licking at the flushed skin of her chest and she watches, his head tilting downwards.

He's waiting, she knows.

The electricity that licks at her own flesh as she takes action once again, sparks, and flairs as her hands glide down from his neck, over the beating of his heart, nails grazing his quivering flesh until she reaches the waistband of his jeans.

When she gets there, she lets her palm lay flat and shaky at his navel, feel the heavy rise and fall of his breaths.

She barely manages to unbutton his pants, slipping her hand beneath his boxers when his mouth finds her chest, edges towards her nipple, he feels her tense in anticipation, and as his mouth descends, he swears silently to himself at the events that unfold on this most precious of nights.

As gently as he can, Rick begins to lick and nip and suck at her breast, and in response, she moans his name as the pleasure he gives her settles in her stomach. He can feel her tense body between them, and Rick seeks nothing more than to relieve that tension.

Rick patiently begins to alternate between her breasts, taking a nipple into his mouth and allowing his hands to gently massage and knead the other, Rick continues the assault with his mouth and hands. And as soon as he thinks he can't anymore, he feels her hands gently stroking up and down his length, and his moans of pleasure mix with her moans to create an orchestra of passion in the loft.

His moans are surely driving her wild, the extra sensation on her nipples almost too much to bear, and as her stroking becomes all the more heated, her other hand continues up his chest to take the strong muscles there into her hands.

His breath flows freely, his heart racing, and his hands seek even more. Reluctantly, his hands leave her breasts and make their way down her flat and toned stomach, and when they reach her pants, he makes quick work of the button and belt.

Sensing his move, Kate drops her legs from around his waist and allows her pants to be peeled off her strong and toned body. Castle then begins his long and incredible march across her skin, his hands force hers away from him, and he holds Kate against the desk as his tongue finds her belly-button.

She tastes amazing.

Her scent is overpowering.

She almost forgets how she got here and why when he runs his tongue over every inch of her. She moans, head turning to the side, free hand gripping at the desk, and soon her leg lifts and falls over his shoulder.

"Mmmm." She sighs as he nips and sucks, hands roaming, feathering over her ribs, lower across her stomach. She grips him tighter, her other hand coming up to fist in his hair as he moves down.

Her eyes are closed tightly. Tiny pinpricks of awareness assaulting her skin every where he touches and nips, licks and lathes his tongue over, a pleading whimper leaves her mouth, and her eyes fly open when it suddenly stops.

He pauses for a moment, drinking in the sight of her pleasure before he continues. And as he moves further down, he can feel and smell and taste her wetness. As his tongue roams over her stomach and inches closer to her, he takes a moment to admire the exquisite beauty before him. Castle holds her tight as her head tips back and her eyes close, revelling in his touch.

His tongue expertly finds her inner thigh, his teeth biting down gently on the exposed skin, and as he travels upwards, her scent draws him to her like a moth to a flame. He is certain that when he gets to her, he will be scorched by heat so intense it will be as though he has flown too close to the sun. But when his tongue slides along the groove of her thigh, the inner curve of her hip, her shudder and moan stills his movements.

Using his teeth, he gently starts to ease her underwear down. She splays her hand over his head drawing him up, until they are face to face, eyes locked, one set confused, one afraid but both full of love as she speaks.

"It's not….about that," she gestures between them. "It's…." She shakes her head desperately trying not to hurt him again, but needing to explain. Of course there is passion between them, chemistry, but this that happens here, for the first time ever, isn't solely about that.

Kate tries to speak again but her words are failing.

"Tell me." His hand slides smoothly into her hair, pulling her as near as she can be so that their lips brush in a different kind of kiss, a kiss of speech, and trust, a verbal embrace.

"I want you." Her voice leaves her in a pleading hum, a tone and quaver so far from the norm that he scrunches his eyes in confusion.

"Kate you have me, you can't doubt now that you…"

She presses her lips to his forcefully, pouring every emotion she can into it "I know I have you but I need you to know, to really truly understand."

Kate pulls back, her hands falling to either side of his face as she speaks directly from her heart to his "I want you."

Her voice shakes with the power of her words, and when she finally seems to regain her composure, he moves over her body and releases her hands from his face, catching her as she seems to stumble in his powerful arms at the force of her conviction.

He meets her face with his when her eyes finally open, and she hungrily returns the kiss he starts, their tastes mixing to form a powerful elixir for their lies.

Gently, she pushes him back and finds the button on his jeans and with another flick of her fingers, his pants are gone, crumpled in a heap on the floor.

He smiles as she looks down, seeing his obvious arousal, but Castle is taken by surprise as she gently pushes him again, forcing him towards his bedroom.

Her hands start at his chest and slowly descending, as they walk, her loose and wet open mouthed kisses catch him across the chest, the neck and shoulder, until she finally backs him into his bed.

They fall back, and she lets out another laugh, thick and hearty, enjoying the feel of his fingers as they contract gently. Castle looks up at her, her mouth wide and pressed into his skin to hide her smile, yet her head tilting enough to show him, to give him another gift in her joy. He answers her with the smile of his own face, and a laugh in his throat.

She tilts her head to watch, her chin resting on his chest, as the smile creases the corners of his eyes. Suddenly realisation dawns. Her eyes widen, because now Kate is fully aware of the magic he has bestowed upon her, the wonder that they create together.

This man.

Oh this man, she could curse herself for the rest of her life for almost letting him go. How could she have ever denied herself this feeling. This love that beats at her chest like a caged animal. She won't let anything get in the way of it ever again. She won't hold back from him, or herself.

No more hiding and no more running away.

Leaning over him to press a kiss over his heart, moving slowly across his chest, lower over the skin of his abdomen, feeling the muscle quiver in anticipation.

Kate can feel the tremble increase when her hands grace the edge of the material and when his boxers are off she stands looking over him, no ceremony or prompt, just simple in her desire to lay naked with man she loves.

Castle is awed by the gentle surety of her touch, the depth of feeling that flows from the tender tips of her fingers. She is everything he could have ever imagined and more. Real, she is the embodiment of all things true in his world and Castle can't believe he spent half his life looking for fake, enjoying the ridiculous charade he had allowed it to become.

It was a fictitious existence that left him wanting, until he met her and even though she is everything real in this world Kate Beckett is still a Goddess descended from heaven. But it's the fact she is also a mere mortal felled by the power of deceit that makes Kate a combination of everything, filling his eyes and heart with the beauty and the wonder of the woman before him.

With her smile still broad across her face, flooded now with desire, raw and palpitating, she raises herself off him, feeling him groan in protest as she slides slowly away.

Giving him a wicked grin, Kate lets her hands dance down her body, along her ribcage to fall at her hips. Her fingers skim underneath the edge of the red lace, easing them down her thighs tantalizingly slow, and letting them fall from her body, exposing her fully to him for the first time.

He gasps when he takes in her beauty as she stands before him and he drinks in the sight, the wonder of Kate open and trusting. And when she looks down at him, he can see the message in her eyes and the wonderful smile that shines brightly throughout the bedroom.

With a soft appreciative hum at the way he is watching her, Kate begins to move closer to the bed. Her legs lift, one at a time, pressing her weight gradually into the mattress on either side of him. A thrill shoots through her with every deliberate ease of her skin as it touches the sides of his legs. Her breath comes out in shallow waves as she moves in, sliding the inside of her thighs up him until she's hovering.

The air is charged around them. Silent and unwavering in the slow rhythm of their two souls about to collide in a passionate embrace long overdue. She can feel it in her heart, beating steadily, no longer erratic with pain and worry. This new legato rhythm pulsates in every inch of her skin, in sync to the thrumming of both their hearts.

Kate rests her hand along the side of Castle's neck until his eyes meet hers. She doesn't think her heart can take it, his pools of shimmering blue pull her directly into his soul, and all she has to do, is reach into those depths and take hold of the heart she knows is hers.

It always has been, but she's been handling it carelessly.

She knows this.

And she only wishes now, to fix it. To soothe the wounds she's inflicted on him.

They are equal, with scars left by one another. And yet, can only be healed by the touch of their twin flame. If the heat between them, body and soul is not enough to confirm, then the fire smouldering in her eyes should be enough to tell him.

It's enough, more than enough.

She was lying before when she said it was.

But then.. she didn't know.

"I know now." She says, caressing the side of his cheek.

He sighs, leaning into her touch, gazing on no other part of her but her face, lost again he can only nod. Castle closes his eyes for a moment, quelling the rise and fall of his breathing to a more even pace with Kate.  
>When he opens his eyes, he watches in awe as her hands gently press up his legs, anchoring herself over him.<p>

She waits for him to come back to her, lingers still for him to be as ready as she is. And when she gets a small smile, she rises up, hovering for just a moment before lowering herself. Two gasps echo into the room, followed by mingled, drawn out moans.

Kate's mouth opens as she rises, a wistful, impatient sound falling freely, as she moves once more. She smiles, her eyes breaking into a slow and teasing wink, his laugh swallowed as she presses her mouth over his, lips meeting before she lowers herself finally, fully over his length, sliding down until she sits across his lap.

Castle is certain he won't survive the immensity of his love for her, that his heart will explode within his chest. He wraps his arms around her, his hands spreading across the small of her back, keeping her near so he can feel her skin. When he feels her own hands, fingers flitting in a salacious path over his skin, winding their way around his neck, he sighs and can hardly contain his excitement.

Her lips begin to lick and suck on his, her mouth moving in time to her hips. They are deep sweeping, penetrating kisses that she throws herself into with wild and complete abandon, watching as he closes his eyes for just a moment.

When he opens them again, he can see her smile, glorious and free, the sexiest moment of his life and he knows it's from more than just the sight of her naked body before him. With the delicious friction between them, they find their rhythm instantly.

Her tight and controlled movements are a beacon to the pleasure they both feel wash over them in wave after wave. And when both are close, she slows just a little, seeking to prolong the culmination of everything they have been building towards, rising together before they tumble into the abyss.

He loves her so much.

And she loves him.

When he feels the rolling waves of pleasure creep ever closer and knows he won't be able to hold back much longer for her, from her. He whispers his affection, his devotion and rolls her over so he can hold her, bury himself within her. He loves her to the fullest extent of everything he has felt from the moment they met.

Gently winding his fingers through her hair, Castle picks up speed, feeling her shudder and break, kissing his neck as he continues to move. She murmurs his name urging him to follow where she leads, and when he can no longer be strong, he allows himself to come apart inside her.

His lips fall over hers with silent grace, stealing the breath and whimpers that leave her.

When they collapse back into the bed later, both sated and happy, Kate lands on her back with Castle wrapped around her, his head fitting into the groove of her shoulder, his right hand falling with ease across her stomach and his left gently providing a pillow for her head.

His voice comes out in a quiet rush, "I am exhausted."

"I am happy. For the first time in a long time, I am happy."

He smiles into her shoulder, his mouth soft against it as he kisses her.

Kate smiles, "A writer and his sappy words..."

"A detective and her constant logic..."

"Together, at last."

He laughs louder giving her a teasing poke to the stomach, "Now who's sappy?"

She grumbles, before smiling and rolling into him, "I love you. I truly, honestly, love you, Rick."

Castle's laughter hums over her skin, once again he brushing kisses against her shoulder, still warm from their love making.

She smiles again, lips breaking wide as she remembers, as she allows herself to fully remember, every memory of them open to her at last.

Now she can enjoy it all. The mountains and the valleys. She whispers softly into his ear, "I plan to keep telling you. Now that I can. I love you Castle. Rick…I do, I love you."

He is miraculously still the luckiest man on the planet, his love strong and his soul, a piece of him that should be torn asunder, is healing, made whole by her words once more.

The reversal is striking and his smile wide and true as he brushes the sheet aside to lay over her again, "I love you too."


End file.
